Grunt Love 2
by RissesPieces
Summary: Just a little more on James and Sara. Kind of interesting I have to say. R&R please.


**Chapter Five**

**Hess**

The day went by uneventfully. I quickly found out that Holiday didn't say much. After, that was, when he agreed to be the navigator. I could see why the base was undermanned. It was huge! There was a few times the Holiday didn't say much and I got lost. But I didn't tell him. Failure, it seemed, would've given him an opening.

We got finished around six. I was so glad that we were done and was hoping that tomorrow we didn't end up getting paired. He was all edge and no heart. I think personally the Corp killed it for him. Maybe he never had it. But that's something not worth thinking about.

I went to my barracks. My roommate was there with some guy. He was tall, taller than me, with brown hair and brown eyes. Tall and lanky he wasn't intimidating. Which was a relief for me.

"Hey Hess, this is my man Doc." Slyvia introduced us.

"Let me guess, a doctor right?" I deducted.

"No actually, that's my name. Harrison Doc." Doc said.

"But he is a doctor." Slyvia chimed in. I smiled at him.

"Cool." I said as I made my way to my locker. The room was huge. Probably about as big as my living room with two beds, two dressers, two lockers, and a refrigerator/microwave combo. Never seen something like that in all my life.

"Hey Hess want to come with us to the bar?" I looked at Slyvia through the mirror that was above the sink next to the locker. She really was pretty. And that's saying a lot if a straight woman says that. She had rich brown hair with natural red highlights and violet eyes. She was taller than me (I am about 5'4) and had an athletic build.

"But I thought that underage people couldn't drink." I said.

"Doesn't matter on base. Just as long as your not driving and your not making a nuesance out of yourself." Doc corrected. "Come on now Hess it's a Marine base. Alchol goes hand in hand with us." With that he gave a laugh. I smiled to my self. Slyvia sure did pick a nice one.

"So do you want to come?" She asked again.

"Sure why not? I had a somewhat bad day." I shrugged.

"Why's that?" Doc asked.

"My partner is why."

"Who was it?" Slyvia asked.

"Some guy named Holiday." I answered while picking out some clothes to wear besides my cami's. This time Doc laughed for real.

"Oh Holiday isn't that bad. You just got to get to know him." Doc quickly explained as I turned around to ask him what he meant. "We go back aways." Now that just did it.

"Alright well whatever. But thinking about it I don't want to go." I changed my mind. I knew they were going to get mad but I wasn't much into drinking.

"Sure." Surprisingly they weren't mad at all.

"Anyways I am going to take a shower and then go to the galley and see what they have."

"Do you have car?" Doc asked.

"Well my brother is on his way with my jeep."

"I take that as a no. Here take my car. We could always use Slyvia's. It's a red mustang by the way." Doc offered as he fished his keys out of his jeans pocket.

"I could walk."

"It's five miles from here." Slyvia stated after she got done kissing Doc for being so nice to me.

"Are you sure?" I asked. He didn't mind. Which meant that I had a car for the night. After our conversation they left and I was left to take a long awaited shower.

Well I found the galley with not much problems. I had to stop and ask a couple of times where it was located. But in the end I found it. Sad part was, was that it closed at six thirty. And it was seven now. _Damn._ I thought.

That's when I noticed a black Ford Cougar pulled up next to Doc's car. I really didn't care until I recognized the person getting out of the car. _For all the people on this base why is it that I had to run into Holiday?_ I thought. But I tried to keep a straight face as he soon recognized me.

"Don't you know that the Galley's closed past six-thirty, Midget?" He asked. By this time I was close to the mustang. And closer to his car. Which he only parked about two parking spaces over.

"So why are you here?" I asked in my pleasant voice. I was starting to get annoyed with the name he was calling me. Just because he was a giant didn't give him any right to give me a hard time.

"Isn't that Doc's car?" He asked suspiciously.

"Yes and I tied him up naked in front of the barracks and stole his car keys just to have it too." My tone dripped saracism. I think he may have laughed at that.

"Well Midget, what are you going to do for food?" Holiday asked. I opened my car door and sat down. What was I going to do for food? I didn't know where the PAX was. Actually I didn't know where anything was.

"I guess I will go to the gas station that I passed and get something to eat there." I replied. I didn't want to him to know that I didn't know where anything was. Too late by the look on his face.

"Yeah, right." He snorted. "Do you like Taco Bell?" I was surprised by the question.

"Why the questions for?" I asked. He rolled his eyes.

"Just answer it."

"It's not bad food." I was as vague as I possibly could be.

"Alright you could either come with me in my car or follow me and I will show you where it's at."

"I think I will follow you." I really didn't want to sit in a car with him. Hell if I thought that he looked good with his uniform on, he looked down right sexy in just plain civilian clothes. Which he was wearing a black shirt with blue jeans and a zipper hoodie. That was the only I could say staring at him. But looking at his sweater made me realize that it was raining and I quickly shut the door.

Chapter Six 

**Holiday**

I was using every cuss word that I knew as I drove to Taco Bell. What was I thinking? Invite that temptress to dinner with me? I blame it on her. Never mind that I lost track of the time. But if she didn't look so lost when she was sitting there as I was drilling her I would've never asked her in the first place. _Damned Midget._ I thought to myself. (So I am six feet even but still.)

I kept constantly looking in the review mirror to make sure that she was behind me and didn't loose me as we drove into Jacksonville. That would be so great of me to loose her. Wait a minute what the hell am I thinking? Who cares if I loose her? Maybe that way I wouldn't be tempted to kiss her so damned much.

"Crap I forgot my wallet." That was the last thing I wanted to hear. We were inside Taco Bell and already ordered. A small part of me refused to help her.

_After all._ That said part of me started to present his case. _It's her fault for forgetting her wallet._

_What are you going to let her go hungry?_ A bigger part of me complained. Guess that was my conscious talking. Surprising that I had a conscious at all.

"Here take it." I told the lady working behind the counter. She smiled at me.

"Too bad she forgot her wallet. Nice thing you stepped in." She commented.

"Listen." I quickly glanced at her nametag. "Alysa, I don't care if she had her wallet with her. It's none of your business so try to keep out of it." I said as gruffly as possible. It worked and she left us alone to find a seat.

"Hey thank you." Hess said. I just grunted. God I couldn't wait for the food to get here so I could just hurry up and eat and run away. For the one thousandth time I was wondering what I was doing. Mercifully the food did come fast and I just ripped into it. Which made me look like a pig when I noticed that Hess was taking her time. I slowed down and tried to take my time.

"Hey just wondering." She said as she flashed me her beautiful baby blue eyes again. No not flashed. She stared at me. God I was getting uncomfortable with her eyes on me. "What is your name?" Now that was a shocker. The one thing that I regretted not giving her earlier and she asked.

"You already know it." I snarled.

_What an asshole. Obviously she knows your last name. But reality check you DO have first name._ "But my first name is James." I am really going to squash my conscious when I get the free time. I was awarded that smile again. Only in away it seemed nice, kinder.

"My name's Sara." She said. Sara. I think I was going to die. What a name to give someone. It was just as beautiful as her.

"So you are not going to laugh about my name?" I asked suspiciously. The one thing I hated was my name.

"Why would I?" She asked a puzzled look on her face. "James' a really good name." I rolled my eyes at that. Now I know she was just being nice. But I didn't say anything. She smiled at me.

"Don't tell me you don't like that name." She said.

"No, I didn't say that." I snarled. She narrowed her eyes at me.

"Actions speak louder than words." After that we were silent for the rest of the meal. The weather outside actually worsened. But it was typical North Carolina spring weather for you.

"Well do you want to go back to the base?" I asked the most obvious question. She looked away and then back at me.

"Yes, before the weather worsens to where we would be stuck here in this fast food joint." She got up and grabbed her trash. I just watched her as she went. After a moment I followed suit and we both left Taco Bell. But not before I noticed that Alyssa gave me her number. I quickly pocketed it and got into my car.

Chapter Seven Hess 

I couldn't believe that he stuck up for me with that broad Alyssa. But I ruined it when I opened my mouth about him not liking his name. Obviously he had a sore spot for it. I came to one conclusion about him though. He had a tiny little heart. Not much, but it was still there. I made a mental note to get to know him better. Purely for professional reasons you understand. After all I was working with him.

That brought me around to thinking about my boyfriend, Rick. He hadn't called but maybe a couple times since he's been deployed. It made me wonder. I know that he would never do anything to hurt me, but still why couldn't he call? I made sure when I got out of basic that my number was the same so he would not run into problems with calling me. But all through A Schooling my phone remained silent. Maybe I was just selfish. After all he is in Iraq. And I needed to be supportive of him. No matter what.

We inched our way to the base. The rain didn't let up at all. But that was fine. Luejune was only thirty minutes from Jacksonville. It turned into a forty minute drive but I am not to complain.

When we pulled up to the barracks he didn't get out of the car. Just stayed idling. Ah well, maybe he didn't have a heart after all.

I got back to my room. Slyvia and Doc wasn't back so I just changed and layed on my bed. Last night I put up the pictures of me and Rick next to my bed. I just stared at it again wondering how he was doing. Wondering where he was at and what he was thinking. Hoping that he was missing me as much as I missed him.

Then my thoughts strayed to Holiday. He sure kept you on your toes. That much was for sure. I was shocked to find out that I wanted to get to know him on a more intimate level. But maybe that was just me being tired. I wasn't used to the time change. And that's when I think I drifted off to sleep.

Chapter Eight Holiday 

I was beating myself up for not taking her to her room. What if she wanted me too? But what if she didn't? These thoughts circled around my head as I working out. I was hoping that would cure myself of her. In fact all it did was make it worse. I saved myself and got out of the gym as quickly as possible.

Back in my barracks I re-found the napkin with Alyssa's number on it. Some people just didn't know what was good for them. I tossed it in the trashcan snarling to myself the whole time. Since when did I turn down someone's number? I was whipped and we weren't even friends! The levels that I sunk into in just one day. If anyone found out about this my reputation would be extinct. I could just hear it now. People would be making fun of me.

"So tell me a little about yourself." A couple of days passed by and I noticed that Hess was trying to get me to open up. I scowled at that idea. No one cared before. In fact I made sure no one cared. Better to let people be in the dark about me then know me.

"Why do you want to know stuff about me?" I asked. We were help guarding the entrance that day. Ramirez was there too. He mainly kept quiet, not saying much to either Hess or me. Which was fine. Too bad someone didn't know how to follow in his footsteps.

It wasn't raining today but the weather looked ominous. And there was a bit of a chill in the wind. And did I mention that it was humid? But I was used to humidity so it really didn't bother me.

"I don't know. Is there anything better to do?" She asked.

"Actually, yes there is." I scowled. "It's called being quiet." That awarded me a glare from her. The first one actually that I have ever seen. Then she just smiled at me.

"Fine. What about you Ramirez?"

"I don't talk to squids." He snapped and fell silent. She just glared at the both of us.


End file.
